ictive action/puzzler!   
      
   * Flicker free gameplay   
      
   * Sound support   
      
   Loading the game gives the very cool revival studios logo in a banana   
   peeling effect, this works very well and looks super slick on the Pet.   
   Revival studios really nailed the game play, and show that once a game is   
   perfected, it doesn't matter about the hardware and limitations of the   
   machine, a good game is a good game.  So after the slick logo we have a   
   minimal title screen:   
      
   Once into the game the screen looks well laid out, and if you have played   
   any other version of SHIFTED on the various platforms its available for,   
   then you will be right at home here as it's the same game and game play.   
      
   The game play is simplistic itself, with a nod towards the various Tetris   
   clones and spinoffs out there.  It's frustrating and very addictive; shift   
   columns to get gems in a row and gain points.  It's repetitive but   
   engaging, as was Tetris and its various clones, and really looks well on   
   the Pet.  My normal comments about high score tables and better title   
   screen still apply (although I do understand that limited memory has made   
   compromises to these features).  If I had hair I would be pulling it out ?   
   The display is rock-solid and tightly programmed but you would expect   
   little else from Revival these days.  It seems they are producing high   
   quality games with some super slick packaging and marketing.   
      
   SCORES   
      
   Graphics: 7/10   
     nice   
   Sounds: 5/10   
     bleep!   
   Gameplay: 8/10   
   Overall: 7.5/10   
      
   Its Pet-Tastic   
      
   YouTube:   
   www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ej7kiWZROg   
      
      
      
   *************************************   
           THANKS FOR THE MEMORY   
            By Lenard R. Roach   
   *************************************   
      
   When it comes down to the BASICs of life (forgive the pun), you can never   
   get away far from the trusty Commodore computer.  Usually, when it comes to   
   learning a truth or two about anything, I have to go over the data about a   
   thousand times before things start to settle into my stubborn frame of   
   mind.  I think that might be the problem of some of us in the over fifty   
   generation; we get stuck in our ways and we'll swing from a rope around our   
   necks before we try something new.  Heh, you should have seen me switching   
   from cassettes to CDs; I honestly thought that the Japanese were trying to   
   take over America through our media because they were still honked off   
   about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The music industry could kiss my fat,   
   flabby, flatulent bottom before I pull away from my trusty cassettes.  Now   
   I have no cassettes and a collection of CDs that are heading for obsolete   
   as digital media begins to wind its way through both the music and movie   
   industry.  No doubt about it, this Redneck has to start stepping up to the   
   times.   
      
   But somehow, this rule of "upgrade from obsolete" doesn't apply too well   
   when it comes to the fantastic and flexible Commodore line of computers.   
   The 21st century is an amazing time to be a Commodore computer user.  With   
   the advancement being made on all the upgrades, both in hardware and   
   software, to computers it seems like companies like Microsoft and Apple   
   create stuff just to pitch the same stuff no more than six months to a year   
   after creation -- but not with Commodore.  While PC hardware hits the trash   
   due to "incompatibility" with itself, Commodore latches onto what it   
   already has and welcomes to its genre all the hardware and software   
   upgrades that can be made without so much as a chip finding its way into   
   the local landfill.   
      
   I take my "POLICE" hat off to all those who manage to take the Commodore   
   line of products and integrate with the machines so many new ideas -- too   
   many of those ideas to be mentioned in this short of a piece.  The men and   
   women of Commodore don't know how much this Redneck admires and appreciates   
   their efforts to keep this 8 bit machine running in leagues with Microsoft,   
   Apple, Linux, and the like.  It makes me wonder what in heaven's name they   
   go through to make such devices like the 64DTV, SuperCPU, along with the   
   software to make it work.  I know in my personal experience all I do is   
   dream up an idea (usually out of necessity), and then start coding on my   
   trusty Commodore 128.  I've seen some coders use special diagrams called   
   "templates" or "paradigms" to help them think through some of their ideas   
   to make sure that before any data goes down into the machine, they know   
   where each routine goes into the entire package.  I've tried templates in   
   the past and all they do is get me confused with all the "if A$ equals no   
   then go here" and so on.  I just sit down and start writing code,   
   visualizing the entire program in my head but not as a complete program.  I   
   see everything in subroutines and write down each subroutine into Commodore   
   BASIC before I go on to the next area.  Do any of you remember the old 1979   
   movie "Star Trek:  The Motion Picture" where this vast machine called   
   "Vger" is built around a small Earth probe that was launched back in the   
   20th century?  My programming is like building the "Vger" probe.  I start   
   with the small subroutine that is the nucleus or heart of the entire   
   program then build around that to a full blown functioning, menu driven,   
   multi-selective, useful piece of Commodore software.  Are there hardships   
   along the way?  You bet!   
      
   I think I've mentioned this before somewhere, but I was told a long time   
   ago before I started to get serious with anything that I put down on paper,   
   be it an article like this or typing BASIC code on the Commodore, that, if   
   you don't have a skin thick enough to handle the oncoming criticisms (and   
   they *will* come, that's a guarantee) for anything that you write, then   
   don't write anything at all.  Keep it to yourself in a personal journal or   
   diary.  Words come back to haunt you, especially when those words are   
   emblazoned on the printed page, and, thanks to the Internet, shown on the   
   media as well.  Nobody can just be "flippant" anymore without having some   
   group, organization, or individual getting hacked off; and the next thing   
   you are doing is scrambling for cover and the verbal shrapnel flies.  I was   
   given advice about what to do with *those* types of people, too -- let them   
   rant, rave, curse, and swear all they want.  Don't so much as give them the   
   time of day, if you can avoid doing so.  Chances are mostly good that you,   
   as the writer or coder, have stumbled across something that the raver   
   wishes they could have done or said, and since they were too slow on the   
   draw to come up with what was done first, they choose to slam you instead,   
   trying to steal from you any limelight you may have generated.  When you   
   answer such a person you are literally giving them that light they so   
   richly desire.  So far I've been able to lob my verbal hand grenades far   
   enough from the critical crowd that I rarely get much back flak, but I do   
   get some.  Once in a while a reader of my Commodore spiel or a user of one   
   of my programs will catch my rantings and give a scathing review of what   
   I've done.  I only respond to said person if I am asked to by the editor of   
   the magazine or software company to which the note was sent, other than   
   that, I leave them alone to rant, avoiding them as much as I can to grant   
   more fuel to the fire.  Don't get me wrong, it took me a *long* time to   
   develop this hardness of hide.  As a novice writer back in 1995 I got a lot   
   of felgercarb from the editor of the Kansas City Commodore newsletter to   
   which, in response, I would hide in a darkened corner and suck my thumb   
   with tears running down my face, and I wouldn't write a thing for a year or   
   two.  After I "toughen" up a bit (ha!) I would write a blurb or two and see   
   who would slap my hand for saying such a thing.  If my hand was slapped it   
   was back into the fetal position; if nobody does nothing then I would write   
   more, sticking my word processing "toe" out there waiting for it to get ran   
   over.  A baby?  Yes, I was, but I learned.   
      
   Now here I am, twenty years, countless articles, a few programs, and three   
   books later and I am admiring all those who went through    
      
   --- MBSE BBS v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux-i386)   
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